NCJ Number
133106
Date Published
1991
Length
459 pages
Annotation
A pilot project conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1990 sought to determine whether police reports of crimes and arrests could be collected in laptop computers and entered directly into the agency's database without having adverse effects on the personnel preparing or using the reports.
Abstract
The project was initiated out of awareness that the large amount of paperwork required to enter crime and arrest data prevented the timely analysis and use of the data. The research compared the current system and the Automated Reporting System (ARS). Results showed that ARS was a definite improvement over the manual reporting system. Police officers were enthusiastic about it, and its full implementation could save the city more than $5 million in clerical salaries, supplies, and equipment. Detectives and prosecutors also noted that the reports were slightly easier to use and of much better quality than the previous reports. ARS currently requires as much time as the previous system to take a report, but this time could be cut by 10 percent through greater use of modems and as police officers become more experienced in using the computers. Figures, glossary, and appended methodological information and additional results